How to organise your paint collection

Find the right pot first time, keep paints from drying out, and stop buying the same red twice.

A paint collection grows one pot at a time, and one day you notice you own three of the same red and can't find the wash you need. A little organisation saves money, saves pots from drying out, and means less time hunting and more time painting. Here's how to get on top of it, whether you have thirty paints or three hundred.

1. Take stock once

Empty the drawers and put every pot, dropper bottle and spray can on the table. As you go, note what each one is: its name and range, what kind of paint it is, and roughly how full it is. Throw out the ones that have dried solid or gone stringy. This is the only slow step, and you only have to do it once.

2. Group them by how you use them

Sorting by brand looks neat but doesn't match how you paint. Group by job instead, so the pots you reach for together sit together:

Primers and sprays, for the first coat.
Base paints, the opaque colours you block in with.
Layer and highlight paints, thinner and brighter, for building up.
Washes and shades, for the recesses.
One-coat or speed paints, the tinted paints that shade themselves over a light undercoat.
Metallics, kept apart so their flakes don't end up in everything else.
Technical paints, inks, mediums and varnishes, for textures, effects and finishing.

Inside each group, order by colour. A rack that runs from dark to light, or around the colour wheel, lets you find the right shade at a glance.

3. Store them where you can see them

Paint you can't see is paint you buy again. Tiered racks or shelves that show every label are best for the pots you use most. Drawers work for the rest, as long as the lids face up and a dab of the colour is on each lid. Dropper bottles keep better on their side or upside down in a rack made for them; pots should always stand upright.

Whatever you use, give each place a name (top rack, drawer 2, the travel box) and note where each paint lives. Then you're never more than one look away from any pot.

4. Keep your paints alive

Close lids firmly as soon as you're done, and wipe the rim first so it seals.
Shake well before use. A small stainless steel or glass agitator ball in each pot makes that much easier.
Keep them out of direct sun and away from radiators, and don't let them freeze in a cold shed.
Revive a thickening pot with a few drops of water or thinning medium, stirred in well. Once a pot has skinned over, decant what's left into a dropper bottle.

5. Track how much is left

You don't need to weigh your pots. Three levels are plenty: fine, running low and out. Update a pot's level when you notice it running down, and anything low or out becomes your shopping list. You find out you need more of that wash before the session, not halfway through it.

6. Check before you buy

The real saving comes at the shop counter. Keep your list somewhere you'll have it with you, usually your phone, and check it before you buy. "Do I already own this?" is the question that stops the third pot of the same red.

How Hobby Double helps

Hobby Double keeps your paints and hobby materials on your phone, with each one's type, colour, stock level and storage spot. Whatever is low or empty lands on the shopping list, grouped by the shop you buy it from. It works offline too, so you can check it in the shop with no signal.

Paint and army names in the examples are made up for this article.